Watch the Tackiest Attack Ads of the Season

Opportunistic and reactionary, part of what's so trashy about attack ads is the way they are conceived, shot and put on the air so quickly. Politicians do surprisingly little to think of how their ads will affect their overall "brand" in the long-term.

I mention this as a followup to the last post. It's suprising how often companies take an "attack ad" approach, wanting to create ads on the fly to respond to competitive threats. Defensiveness is not a value of lasting merit in terms of a solid brand foundation.

Anyway, for fun I did a quick search on "worst attack ads" and came up with some richly crappy and tasteless stuff:

Elizabeth Dole's attack on Kay Hagan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzhUOfgxg2c&feature=related

Flowing with bitterly pungent metaphor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhEm2V-VJ8o

I don't know what to say about this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2iC-kVZYo8

Here's how to exploit tragedy for personal gain:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1F6O7tHiT4&NR=1


The same search revealed lots of people's votes for "worst commercials" in general. These are just for fun:


IBM - voted "worst" by some unknown rating institution:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFz--z5Meho

This is wonderful:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ3oHpup-pk

This Avis commercial is very disturbing. The way their mouths fall open reminds me of that that little kid from The Grudge:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXR2iDoyLMc&feature=related

Very quick edits in this Barbie ad. You're going to want to watch it a few times. I don't think you'll believe your eyes. What are they feeding that dog?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hAdWqmWDRM&feature=related

-Eric